The Portland daily press., 1887-02-28
Market Square for the Monument

To the Editor of the Press:
One would suppose on reading the com
munlcatl0ns published in the PRESS, OBJECT
ing 70 Market Square as the site Tor the
ooiolers Monument, that the executive COM
nllttee OF the Soldiers Monument Assocla-
.Ion were set OF men who had no interest
IN tne welfare Of the city instead OF being
composed OF our heaviest taxpayers, and
gentlemen OF wealth and culture who have
visited Europe and have seen that the monu-.
ments 10 commemorate the noble deeds OF
nraVe men are erected in the public squares In
the great cities abroad. Europeans don't erect
should we?
There is no question that if the old City
HAL was once out of the way, there would
not be one vote to put it back. Then why
any one who has any regard for the appear
ance OF our city should object to removing
an old, unsightly, tumble-down building, is
more than can see.
The cry of taxation is the bugbear that
mas been heard in Portland for ages. When
Jedediah Jewett was Mayor, he was called
everything but an honest man because ne
could look ahead and had the new CITY han
Dullt large and handsome enough Tor nlty
years TO come. Who is there today that does
not Deheye he was right? Let us look ahead
lew years and see Congress street lined
| with elegant stores from Congress Square 70
Munloy How would the Old City Hall look
| then? 1t would be an eyesOre to everybody.
the sooner 1t is out of the way the better. AS
| you come down Congress street now and
look at the square with its job wagons and
peddlers,, all that Is wanted is load OF nay
and wood and dog fight to make picture
that can be seen at the corners in every
| country village in the State.
| One objection refers to the Back Bay NUS
ance. Now the Back Bay smell is some
thing that happens about half dozen times
IN the summer. but the Old City Hall null
| sance is something Portland people have had
| TO put up with ever since can remember,
three hundred days in the year, and don't
Delleye any other city in the country would
tolerate in the heart OF the city business
which allows the occupants to cover the
SIDEWALKS with tubs, churns and agricultural
implements OF every description to such an
extent that two people cannot walk abreast
without having their clothes torn. II the
merchants in any other part OF the city kept
their sidewalks Uttered up. as they are at
Old City Hall, the Mayor, City Marshal and
| all the police would be after them with a
sharp stick. 1t is business that should be
! on side street.
1t is not bad plan to follow in the wake
| OF other cities. In Scollay Square, Boston,
stood large building that paid to the city in
taxes twenty times as much as is received
from the tenants at the Old City Hall. Pro-
gress and improvement said the Scollay
building must be removed, and it was Do
you suppose one vote could be got in Bos-
| ton to have the building put back? No.
| 1t will be the same when the Old City Hall
is removed. Nature has done much for
Portland, and now that few public spirited
citizens wish to do something not only to pay
a debt to those brave men of Portland who
gave their lives that the nation might live,
but as an ornament to the city, up jumps
that jack in the box, Old Fogy, as usual and
| says, II object to Market Square. Put the
monument down in behring's Oaks" What
an idea. Why in.Deering's Oaks it would be
frozen up six months in the year. Not a
soul would see it from November to NAV.
Put it in Market Square and every person
that visits the city can see it every day in
the year Suppose some time hence there
should be call for volunteers to defend the
stars and stripes, let the people be asked to
meet at the Soldiers Monument in Market
Square. Then the orators could point to
deeds Of Portland's sons cut in granite and
bronze and bid others go forth to battle for
the nations honor.
Let every man vote "Yes'-to put the
monument in Market square--not only as
the most suitable of all places in the city,
but to show the veterans who survived the
battles on land and sea that our people APP
preciate what they did for them and poster
ity. These survivors do not ask that this
monument be erected to them. They are
satisfied and thankful to be alive today, but
they do hope to live to see it erected to the
memory. Of those that fell by their side, face
TO the foe. These veterans know what they
suffered better than any others. See that
these veterans who helped fill the quota of
this city do not wish they had enlisted in
Saccarappa or Sebago rather than in their
native city because the people who live here
do not appreciate what they did for them.
Let us roll up a larger majority than was
gwen last year for Market square, for the
soldiers monument.
Pro Bono PuBLIco.